Hydrogeology and preliminary assessment of regional flow in the upper Cretaceous and adjacent aquifers in the northern Mississippi embayment

In his reports on the regional hydrogeology of the central Great Plains, in particular southeastern Colorado and southwestern and central Kansas, Darton considered the Dakota aquifer to be a classic example of an artesian system. Computer simulations of the flow system in this study, however, suggest that the Dakota is not a regional artesian aquifer in the classic sense. Sensitivity analysis of a steady-state vertical profile flow model demonstrates that the flow system in the upper Dakota in western Kansas is heavily influenced by the Upper Cretaceous aquitard, the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado, and rivers in central Kansas, such as the Saline, that have eroded through the aquitard and into the Dakota to the west of the main outcrop area of the aquifer. The model shows that local flow systems and the vertical hydraulic conductivity of the Upper Cretaceous aquitard heavily influence the water budget and the flow patterns. The aquitard restricts recharge from the overlying water table to underlying aquifers in western Kansas because of its considerable thickness and low vertical hydraulic conductivity. The Arkansas River intercepts ground-water flow moving toward western Kansas from recharge areas south of the river and further isolates the upper Dakota from sources of freshwater recharge. In central Kansas, the Saline River has reduced the distance between confined portions of the aquifer and its discharge area. In essence, this has improved the hydraulic connection between the confined aquifer and its discharge area, thus helping to generate subhydrostatic conditions in the upper Dakota upgradient of the river.

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Fraction of young water as an indicator of aquifer vulnerability along two regional flow paths in the Mississippi embayment aquifer system, southeastern USA

Hydrogeology Journal ◽

10.1007/s10040-017-1566-4 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 1661-1678 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

James A. Kingsbury ◽

Jeannie R. B. Barlow ◽

Bryant C. Jurgens ◽

Peter B. McMahon ◽

John K. Carmichael

Keyword(s):

Aquifer Vulnerability ◽

Flow Paths ◽

Mississippi Embayment ◽

Southeastern Usa ◽

Aquifer System ◽

Regional Flow

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Palynological investigations in the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary of the Mississippi Embayment region - V

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr73283 ◽

1973 ◽

Author(s):

Robert H. Tschudy

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Mississippi Embayment

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Cretaceous cultch: substrate availability for oyster Exogyra in the Maastrichtian of the eastern Mississippi Embayment

Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas ◽

10.22201/cgeo.20072902e.2020.3.1580 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 197-211

Author(s):

Marvin Kunath ◽

George Phillips ◽

Renee M. Clary

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Southeastern United States ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

Substrate Availability ◽

Mississippi Embayment ◽

Shallow Marine ◽

Northeast Mississippi ◽

Upper Maastrichtian ◽

Benthic Population

The gryphaeid oyster Exogyra Say, 1820, is ubiquitous in Upper Cretaceous sediments in the southeastern United States. Like many oysters (Order Ostreida), Exogyra attached its shell to hard surfaces on the seafloor by means of cementation. Throughout its lifetime, Exogyra may preserve through bioimmuration the characteristics and even skeletal remains of substrate organisms, including mollusk shells, echinoids, and bryozoans. Exogyra costata of all sizes were collected from three different localities within upper Maastrichtian deposits in northeast Mississippi and their bioimmurations analyzed. Substrates were identified and classified to compare the three localities’ substrate taxa in order to probe differences in benthic population structure. The results of this pilot study provide an overview of available surfaces on the Late Cretaceous seafloor on the eastern side of the Mississippi Embayment. The data suggest that taxonomic diversity among utilized substrates may increase from north to south, which corresponds to increasing depth from shallow marine to deeper sediments on the shelf.

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